Alpha Zephyr strode down the silent hall, the polite bows of the arranged guards registering only as distant blurs. His mind was elsewhere, singular in its focus. Selene. She was a constant hum beneath the surface of his thoughts, an intoxicating presence that eclipsed everything else.
He no longer fought it. No matter how he tried to reorient his focus, she was there, her image seared into his consciousness. Even the weight of his alpha responsibilities, the crucial matters of the pack, seemed to grudgingly create space for her.
When he'd spoken to his Beta and Gamma earlier, saying, "The time is here," he'd largely been speaking to himself, trying to pull his own thoughts back into line.
He needed to focus on what was truly important.
Normally, the looming shadow of the dream – a dark premonition concerning his life and, by extension, the pack's fate – would dominate. It was vital, important.
But not now.
